IntelliBriefs bring you Intelligence briefs on Geopolitics , Security and Intelligence from around the world . We gather information and insights from multiple sources and present you in a digestible format to quench your thirst for right perspective, with right information at right time at right place . We encourage people to contact us with any relevant information that other news media organizations don't cover . Contact :intellibriefs@gmail.com

April 25, 2012

The past year witnessed a number of dramatic signs that the United States is shifting its strategic focus toward Asia. This shift, accompanied by a continued draw down of U.S. forces and diplomatic presence in Europe and a slight increase of a presence in Australia, is combined with U.S. concerns over the continued decline of European defense spending, accelerated by the serious debt crisis confronting Europe. It also reflects a U.S. preoccupation with China. In Europe there are also signs of a Pacific pivot. The West is facing a major turning point in terms of its sense of itself and of its role in a world that seems to be heading toward a post-Western disorder. This is clearly the time for the West to rediscover and revitalize itself by uniting rather than engaging in a race to the Eastern exits.

As the world moves into the second decade of the 21st century, a new power rivalry is taking shape between India and China, Asia's two behemoths in terms of territory, population and richness of civilization. India's recent successful launch of a long-range missile able to hit Beijing and Shanghai with nuclear weapons is the latest sign of this development.

This is a rivalry borne completely of high-tech geopolitics, creating a core dichotomy between two powers whose own geographical expansion patterns throughout history have rarely overlapped or interacted with each other. Despite the limited war fought between the two countries on their Himalayan border 50 years ago, this competition has relatively little long-standing historical or ethnic animosity behind it.

The signal geographical fact about Indians and Chinese is that the impassable wall of the Himalayas separates them. Buddhism spread in varying forms from India, via Sri Lanka and Myanmar, to Yunnan in southern China in the third century B.C., but this kind of profound cultural interaction was the exception more than the rule.

Moreover, the dispute over the demarcation of their common frontier in the Himalayan foothills, from Kashmir in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east, while a source of serious tension in its own right, is not especially the cause of the new rivalry. The cause of the new rivalry is the collapse of distance brought about by the advance of military technology.

Indeed, the theoretical arc of operations of Chinese fighter jets at Tibetan airfields includes India. Indian space satellites are able to do surveillance on China. In addition, India is able to send warships into the South China Sea, even as China helps develop state-of-the-art ports in the Indian Ocean. And so, India and China are eyeing each other warily. The whole map of Asia now spreads out in front of defense planners in New Delhi and Beijing, as it becomes apparent that the two nations with the largest populations in the world (even as both are undergoing rapid military buildups) are encroaching upon each other's spheres of influence -- spheres of influence that exist in concrete terms today in a way they did not in an earlier era of technology.

And this is to say nothing of China's expanding economic reach, which projects Chinese influence throughout the Indian Ocean world, as evinced by Beijing's port-enhancement projects in Kenya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar. This, too, makes India nervous.

Because this rivalry is geopolitical -- based, that is, on the positions of India and China, with their huge populations, on the map of Eurasia -- there is little emotion behind it. In that sense, it is comparable to the Cold War ideological contest between the United States and the Soviet Union, which were not especially geographically proximate and had little emotional baggage dividing them.

The best way to gauge the relatively restrained atmosphere of the India-China rivalry is to compare it to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan abut one another. India's highly populated Ganges River Valley is within 480 kilometers (300 miles) of Pakistan's highly populated Indus River Valley. There is an intimacy to India-Pakistan tensions that simply does not apply to those between India and China. That intimacy is inflamed by a religious element: Pakistan is the modern incarnation of all of the Muslim invasions that have assaulted Hindu northern India throughout history. And then there is the tangled story of the partition of the Asian subcontinent itself to consider -- India and Pakistan were both borne in blood together.

Partly because the India-China rivalry carries nothing like this degree of long-standing passion, it serves the interests of the elite policy community in New Delhi very well. A rivalry with China in and of itself raises the stature of India because China is a great power with which India can now be compared. Indian elites hate when India is hyphenated with Pakistan, a poor and semi-chaotic state; they much prefer to be hyphenated with China. Indian elites can be obsessed with China, even as Chinese elites think much less about India. This is normal. In an unequal rivalry, it is the lesser power that always demonstrates the greater degree of obsession. For instance, Greeks have always been more worried about Turks than Turks have been about Greeks.

China's inherent strength in relation to India is more than just a matter of its greater economic capacity, or its more efficient governmental authority. It is also a matter of its geography. True, ethnic-Han Chinese are virtually surrounded by non-Han minorities -- Inner Mongolians, Uighur Turks and Tibetans -- in China's drier uplands. Nevertheless, Beijing has incorporated these minorities into the Chinese state so that internal security is manageable, even as China has in recent years been resolving its frontier disputes with neighboring countries, few of which present a threat to China.

India, on the other hand, is bedeviled by long and insecure borders not only with troubled Pakistan, but also with Nepal and Bangladesh, both of which are weak states that create refugee problems for India. Then there is the Maoist Naxalite insurgency in eastern and central India. The result is that while the Indian navy can contemplate the projection of power in the Indian Ocean -- and thus hedge against China -- the Indian army is constrained with problems inside the subcontinent itself.

India and China do play a great game of sorts, competing for economic and military influence in Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. But these places are generally within the Greater Indian subcontinent, so that China is taking the struggle to India's backyard.

Just as a crucial test for India remains the future of Afghanistan, a crucial test for China remains the fate of North Korea. Both Afghanistan and North Korea have the capacity to drain energy and resources away from India and China, though here India may have the upper hand because India has no land border with Afghanistan, whereas China has a land border with North Korea. Thus, a chaotic, post-American Afghanistan is less troublesome for India than an unraveling regime in North Korea would be for China, which faces the possibility of millions of refugees streaming into Chinese Manchuria.

Because India's population will surpass that of China in 2030 or so, even as India's population will get gray at a slower rate than that of China, India may in relative terms have a brighter future. As inefficient as India's democratic system is, it does not face a fundamental problem of legitimacy like China's authoritarian system very well might.

Then there is Tibet. Tibet abuts the Indian subcontinent where India and China are at odds over the Himalayan borderlands. The less control China has over Tibet, the more advantageous the geopolitical situation is for India. The Indians provide a refuge for the Tibetan Dalai Lama. Anti-Chinese manifestations in Tibet inconvenience China and are therefore convenient to India. Were China ever to face a serious insurrection in Tibet, India's shadow zone of influence would grow measurably. Thus, while China is clearly the greater power, there are favorable possibilities for India in this rivalry.

India and the United States are not formal allies. The Indian political establishment, with its nationalistic and leftist characteristics, would never allow for that. Yet, merely because of its location astride the Indian Ocean in the heart of maritime Eurasia, the growth of Indian military and economic power benefits the United States since it acts as a counter-balance to a rising Chinese power; the United States never wants to see a power as dominant in the Eastern Hemisphere as it itself is in the Western Hemisphere. That is the silver lining of the India-China rivalry: India balancing against China, and thus relieving the United States of some of the burden of being the world's dominant power.

April 22, 2012

The previous edition of India’s
Worst Journalist in 2010 on this site still remains one of the most popular
posts and also a very widely reproduced one. Over the last decade or so our
journalists have come to be held in the same contempt that is usually reserved
for politicians. Many of them have simply forgotten the art and science of the
profession and this is a serious tragedy for aspiring journalists. How they came
to such a pass is a long story. The most prominent ones are not even journalists
anymore; they are ‘Editorialists’ whose main job is to swing public
opinion one way or another. Add to this the epidemic of ‘paidnews’ and
some of our news channels and newspapers would be nothing more than Bollywood or
Commercials. After all, didn’t the late Christopher Hitchens say: “I
became a journalist because one didn’t have to specialise”.

Some prominent faces from the
2010 roll of honour have dropped out. Vinod Mehta has retired from active
journalism and remains Chairman of Outlook. We wish him well. Suzy Roy
has moved from part-time lie-mongering to full-time Maoist-Hurriyat sympathiser.
‘Pastiwalas’ are over-joyed at the ever growing size and weight of her 50+ page
essays – they’re the only ones handling them now. Prannoy Roy was also
dropped. He is now more into barbeque chats than any serious attempts at
journalism. Even elections don’t arouse him. But there are some new faces with
the old ones. Polling for IWJ ended today and thanks to all those who
voted. So here are the winners from the poll, the list of India’s Worst
Journalists-2012 from the poll results. Their 2010 ranking is indicated
after their name:

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Large &
Larger..

10. Nidhi Razdan, NDTV
(New entry): She has come to prominence more for many reasons other than
journalistic skills. ‘Left, right, centre’ is her signature programme and
happens to be one of those mindless debates on every topic under the sun. She is
proof that you can be an expert on everything with specialisation in nothing.
The best part of Nidhi? Now, don’t get me wrong, she likes everything large.
Whenever confounded by a brilliant argument or point by a panellist she quickly
jumps to her favourite line “let’s look at the LARGER picture”. One would
have thought that debates are meant to look at the finer small details. No, not
with Nidhi, the larger picture is a convenient exit. Training from NDTV helps.
My prediction for this debutant is that she is likely to go higher up in the
list in the future.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Friendly five
member

9. Kumar Ketkar (New
entry): Somewhere a brief bio about Ketkar says “He
started his life as an active communist worker of the Lal Nishan Paksh (Red flag
party)”. Now why is that not so surprising? And that also explains Ketkar
somewhat. He is also reported to be a former speech writer during elections for
Congress members. Isn’t that an accomplishment any journalist would be proud of?
He has been mostly a Marathi journalist and last heard he is editor of Divya
Marathi. A respected veteran, he was one of the privileged Five invited to a
private press meet of PM Manmohan Singh around June 2011. Ever since, it has
been downhill. He achieved his right to be on this list through his performances
as a panellist. What can I say? I hope being a veteran he doesn’t appear here in
the future.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Your
Banal

8. Arnab Goswami, TimesNow
(2010 #3): There can be no denying that Arnab is one of the rare patriots among
journalists. Almost every one wishes our judiciary could be as quick and
decisive as Arnab is. Which is the reason I conferred him the title ‘Justice
Arnab’. His performance on TimesNow has definitely battered ratings of NDTV
and CNN-IBN. Pick up any scam, any scandal Arnab can throw the documents at you.
IB, RAW, GOI have no escape – all documents and papers have to pass through
Arnab. Sometime back I remarked: Most of us wake up in the morning and want
Coffee or Tea! Not Arnab, he just wants ‘answers’. Such are the never-ending
questions he has. Much before Arnab became a journalist the rock band U2
wrote a song for him – “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”. They
were the only ones to anticipate all the unanswered questions he’d come up with.
Undeniable fact is that Arnab has dropped from #3 in 2010 to #8 in 2012 on this
list. That is proof of his ever-growing popularity. He can out-shout anyone in
this world. Anyone, except Meenakshi Lekhi and Smriti Irani.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Fine
WhINES

7. Vir
Sanghvi (2010 #9): I honestly don’t have any idea whatsoever what Sanghvi
currently does. I don’t even see him on any Cookery or Foodie show. He must be
doing something to merit an appearance on this list again, at a higher position
even. Radiagate has damaged him far more than any other journalist, which is
unfortunate. He managed to surface sometime back on his home channel NDTV
claiming the Radia tapes were doctored and weren’t authentic and were tested by
reliable foreign forensic labs. Nobody bought that though. Sometimes, a wayward
journalist, at his peak, forgets simple decency. Sanghvi will forever be haunted
with two things: Radiagate and the fact that he called Narendra Modi a
‘mass-murderer’. He will regret both episodes. Had it not been for Modi ignoring
his stupid outburst Vir Sanghvi would have been in prison writing a cookery book
or his autobiography titled “Fine Whines!”.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

No facts, please

<><>>

6. Karan Thapar (2010 #4):
Readers must remember that every journo looks tall in the studio but not in
actual life. KT is not blessed with stature and the same goes for his
journalism. One can say he has improved a bit but still retains the unwanted
scowl and growl when interviewing people. Madhu Trehan in her NewsLaundry
interview showed up KT for the little puppy he was. Like the ones who just need
a hug and a cuddle once in a while. And if you thought you knew nothing about
KT, never mind. All you have to do is hear his signature line on his promo for
his show on CNN-IBN: “I don’t want to go into the facts, the facts are
disputed”. LOL! Facts are disputed? You have to undo a lot of learning to
understand that facts aren’t facts and can be disputed. The worst job KT
did in 2011 was massaging Kapil Sibal’s brazen attempt at pre-screening content
on the internet. As if that wasn’t enough he pulled out Brajesh Mishra, former
NSA, out of nowhere to call serving army chief, Gen. VKSingh, the worst ever
chief of army in history. My prediction: As long as he is in the business, KT
will be on this list.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Wheres the
smirk?

5. Vinod Sharma (New
entry): For those who don’t know, Vinod Sharma is the political editor of
Hindustan Times. That’s right, ‘Political’ is the key word – less of an editor
and more of a politician. It’s not very hard to recognise VS on a friendly
channel. He has made the ‘smirk’ more popular than child-molester DGP Rathore on
television. Sharma has also been acknowledged by many political spokespersons
and viewers as the most loyal spokesperson of the Congress party. No matter what
the scam or what the scandal you can expect him to staunchly defend even the
worst misdeeds of the Congress by blaming it on the opposition or anyone else he
can lay his hands on. The one chance to get him off TV for longer periods was a
Rajya Sabha ticket, when Shobana Bhartiya, his boss at HT exited, but that
unfortunately didn’t happen. So we’re going to be stuck with VS for quite a
while. His best moment in recent times was during the debate over Gen. VK Singh
and the Tatra trucks scam. He was angry that the debate was going one way (in
favour of Gen. Singh) so had to somehow twist it against the tide. In his
business time VS writes a blog titled ‘Separated at birth’. I guess that refers
to some Pakistani connection or maybe his journalistic independence was
separated at birth. Someday we’ll find out.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

He's no
Egghead

4. Shekhar Gupta (2010
#10): When he appeared on the last list, a fan of Gupta wrote in stating he will
email my post to SG for his response. I was wondering whether that fan objected
to SG being at #10 and wanted him to be lower on the list. I guess that fan’s
prayers are answered. SG has sunk further in the rankings and his Indian Express
is almost on doles from the govt. His senseless programme ‘Walk the talk’ , the
equivalent of ‘Koffee with Karan’ or ‘On the couch with Koel’, continues on NDTV
but what sunk SG the most is his misadventure with an article on Army troop
movements. In his quest to please SG’s UPA, this SG splashed a headline in IE
that nearly implied the army, led by Gen.VK Singh, may have dreamt of a coup.
Worse, there have been reports that the troop movement story was stale and SG’s
version was actually a plant by a union minister. SG laid an egg alright but
ended up with more on his face. He will forever be credited with reducing a
fiercely independent newspaper like IE to a mouthpiece of a political party. His
permanent place on this list is forever assured.

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

I washed my hands in the
Hammam

3. Rajdeep Sardesai (2010
#6): Hmmm! The guy is making progress alright. I have always maintained there
are two Rajdeeps – One on TV and one off it. Whenever he is off TV his
conscience strikes and one can hear a sane person, sometimes profound, sometimes
emotional. But his character loses focus in front of the camera. Recently, he
lamented on Twitter about being abused as a’Muslim whore and a Motherf$#!#*’.
Bad, but the kind of abuse of journalistic ethics that Rajdeep has frequently
allowed under his watch is far more serious. He has even given the media the
right to ‘conduct hearings’ against personalities. While he wonders about ‘image
makeovers’ for others, there is no way he can ever get past the Cash4Votes
bungling or the terribly biased reporting on Gujarat riots. His 2007 conduct of
an HT Summit which featured a key speaker reflects a character of pathetically
low moral values and journalistic ethics. And to top that he defended the
tainted Radiagate journalists and was rightly ‘slapped’ by his own community.
Death of decent journalism owes a small debt to him. He has rightly earned the
nick name ‘Hammamboy’!

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

If it's Friday, it must
be...

2. Sagarika Ghose (2010
#2): Ms. Cacofonix stays where she was: at No.2. You can’t fault Sagarika
for not trying hard enough to be India’s worst journalist. She has made every
effort in the recent past to get to #1. Journalism gives her a bad name.
For her truly pathetic and fraudulent ‘live’ show with SriSri she would have
been sacked from any TV channel in the world. That in itself is a reflection of
the ethics and morals practiced at CNN-IBN by her and her boss Rajdeep Sardesai.
You can imagine the skulduggery behind all other programmes and debates. And if
that wasn’t enough she misses no chance to prove she is a ‘journalistic bimbo’
by mindless tweets on the social network. Be it about ‘ugly Indian males’, or
Orange being a colour in our national flag or sending out a Good Friday greeting
and withdrawing it she is truly the court-jester of Indian journalism. What can
I say? Better luck next time!

<><>><><>
>

<><>>

<><>
>

<><>>

Me, Myself &
I

1. Barkha Dutt (2010 #1):
For the second time in a row Barkha retains her position as India’s worst
journalist in the poll, by a whopping margin. The only road to redemption is
apologising for past blunders. While she and another one have been vocal in
demanding apologies and expressions of remorse from public figures the same
standard doesn’t seem to apply to her. No matter what she does the taint of
Radiagate and many other indiscretions are unlikely to disappear. The
accusations of causing deaths in Kargil or in 26/11 are also going to linger.
She is probably the only news celeb on TV that has a ‘wardrobe sponsor’.
All the image makeovers may not help much. Most of us have held Rahul Gandhi for
the Congress’ UP election disaster but Barkha and NDTV must be credited with the
disaster too. No one has singularly promoted RG and his cause and almost turned
him into India’s saviour till the engine got derailed. Her penchant for
Pakistani politics and politicians is another thing that disgusts many viewers.
In the meantime her language keeps getting better and better. In a recent tweet
she responded to sarcasm with: “… ‘Nazi Dogs’ .. if ever language betrayed
desperation of loser, it is here…” Losers or not, with over 70% of the votes
polled, Barkha is the absolute winner here. Cheers!

So there you are. Let’s also not
forget that are many journalists who now increasingly seem to be anti-nationals.
Their ties to Ghulam Nabi Fai aren’t even being investigated by the govt.
Industry leaders usually raise the standards of performance of the industry as a
whole. The opposite seems to be true in the media. Systematically, many of
India’s journalists have brought the profession to rock bottom over the years. I
continue to maintain, they are the greatest threat to our democracy.

By Shehzad Baloch
Published: April 18, 2012
Kidnappers demanding Rs20m ransom for Rajesh Kumar, son of an HRCP activist.
QUETTA:
In spite of a lapse of two months, law enforcement agencies remain clueless about the whereabouts of Dr Rajish Kumar, a member of the Hindu community kidnapped in broad daylight from Quetta on February 13.
Dr Kumar is the son of Dr Nand Lal, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)’s Quetta chapter as well as of the Pak-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy.
Sources close to the relatives of Kumar said the kidnappers have established contact with the family and demanded Rs20 million in ransom for his release.
Meanwhile, police appear to have made no progress on the case and remain unwilling to talk about it. In spite of several attempts made by The Express Tribune, senior police officials remained unavailable for comment.
“The DIG Operations is busy and I will ask him if he is willing to comment on this issue and then let you know,” a police official said. He did not follow up with a response.
According to HRCP’s Balochistan chapter, as many as 34 members of the Hindu community, most of whom are traders, have been kidnapped across different parts of Balochistan so far since 2011. “A few are still in the captivity of kidnappers while all others were released after paying a huge chunk of money as ransom,” Tahir Hussain, Balochistan HRCP Vice Chairman told The Express Tribune.
Another Hindu trader, Ganga Ram, was kidnapped from Lasbela a week ago but police are yet to trace his whereabouts.
HRCP urged the government to take appropriate steps to stop the kidnapping of Hindu traders, saying that the community had specifically been made a target.
Meanwhile, Basant Lal Gulshan, provincial minister for human rights and minorities affairs, said two of his workers who were kidnapped in March had been released without paying ransom.
“Vinod Kumar and Sono Kumar were kidnapped in Marach and released after 15 days. Their safe recovery took place with the help of tribal notables and law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Ironically, Basant said they were not recovered but voluntarily released by their captors. “Most of the (recovered) Hindus paid ransom but these two were released without payment.”
According to a former senior police officer of Balochistan, there is a lack of high-ranking police officials in the province which is contributing to the deteriorating law and order situation.
“Grade 17 to 18 police officers are serving on grade 20 posts. There is no senior officer,” he said. “Senior officials are needed to control the crime (rate).”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2012.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/366243/abductions-in-balochistan-police-remain-clueless-about-hindu-kidnapping-2-months-on/

Disclaimer

The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of IntelliBriefs or any employee thereof. IntelliBriefs make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this blog and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.

IntelliBriefs blog reserves the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner it sees fit blog entries or comments that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, or is otherwise unacceptable